Time Warner Cable investing $25M in NYC fiber build-out

Time Warner Cable Business Class (TWCBC) is upping the ante against its New York City-area competitors by spending $25 million this year to expand its fiber-optic network to businesses.

Time Warner Cable Business Class made the fiber-optic build-out announcement this morning at the headquarters of the Hispanic Information and Telecommunications Network (HITN) at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where TWCBC is finishing a multi-million dollar investment to provide fiber-based solutions to tenants of the 300-acre business complex.

HITN is one of the complex’s first fiber clients and is utilizing the technology to improve and enhance its overall business operations, as well as to transport and deliver its online and television-based educational programming to viewers across the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

TWCBC also announced that the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp. would receive a state-of-the-art Time Warner Cable Learning Lab in its Employment Center, located inside the complex and accessible to the public.

The Learning Lab is scheduled to open later this year and will be part of the Navy Yard’s onsite Employment Center, located in Building 92. Another Learning Lab opened earlier this month at Good Shepherd Services in Park Slope. Time Warner Cable has opened six Labs in New York City to date and plans to open 40 more during the next several years.

“We are very pleased to work with the city of New York to make significant investments to ensure that this city has the technology infrastructure to successfully compete in a worldwide marketplace,” said Ken Fitzpatrick, president of Time Warner Cable Business Class for the East Region. “Our fiber-optic network provides dedicated Internet access at incredible speeds and high-bandwidth capabilities to serve the communications needs of any business.”

The fiber network enables businesses to be connected to a dedicated Internet network that provides speeds that reach 10 Gbps and faster and have their voice, Ethernet, and video transport solutions delivered over high-bandwidth fiber for increased speed and reliability.

“The Bloomberg Administration’s commitment to greater digital inclusion is exemplified each day – from partnering with private sector partners on infrastructure investments to expansion of broadband accessibility in public computing centers across the five boroughs,” said Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications Commissioner Rahul Merchant. “The Brooklyn Navy Yard represents the latest advance on these efforts, simultaneously connecting an underserved ‘digital island’ with advanced communications technology for the businesses that require it, as well as setting the stage for increased public access to help further bridge the digital divide.”

In Brooklyn, Time Warner Cable is making investments to serve the borough’s business community. In addition to building out fiber at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, TWCBC is making investments to serve other business locations, such as Brooklyn Tech Triangle, the Brooklyn Army Terminal and Industry City, in addition to other business locations.

Businesses in Long Island City, as well as other emerging areas in Queens, are also continuing to receive fiber investments from TWCBC. The company is also investing in Staten Island to bring this advanced technology to the borough’s business community.

The company’s fiber network is in addition to its hybrid fiber/coax infrastructure that is widely available throughout New York City areas.

While Google has garnered a lot of national attention for its fiber build in Kansas City, where it will compete against Time Warner Cable, Time Warner Cable has been planning its New York City fiber build-out for some time.

During Time Warner Cable’s fourth-quarter and year-end earnings call in January, chief operating officer Rob Marcus said one of the key goals for TWCBC this year was bringing more businesses “on net” and “to continue to aggressively expand the number of serviceable commercial establishments in 2012.”

TWCBC serves the NYC boroughs of Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island and western Brooklyn; Mt. Vernon, N.Y.; and Bergen and Hudson counties in New Jersey. Its main competition for commercial services in the New York City metro area comes from Verizon, although RCN is also adding fiber to Queens and parts of its Manhattan footprint.